Recently in Commentary

Among the tributes that came to the legendary Producer, Designer and Director Franco Zeffirelli, in the remaining days of this past March, a little gem of a celebration was held at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes and Noble bookstore, on the evening of March 28th.

Composer Allen Anderson will be familiar to aficionados of contemporary
music through various works released on CRI, or those in the Research
Triangle through his presence in the new music scene here in North Carolina,
where he has taught at UNC since 1996.

Two excellent books on opera have come to hand, providing many hours of entertaining reading. I combine notice of them with a few thoughts about composer Paul Moravec’s CDs, and his forthcoming opera premiere at Santa Fe Opera in 2009.

It is, you might say, the little opera that can. True, if it’s size of the budget, the price of tickets and the number of seats that concerns you, the Komische Oper is clearly the third of Berlin’s opera houses.

I met the young gaucho composer Dimitri Cervo at the 2003 Bienal of Contemporary Music, where his works for solo flute and strings, Pattapiana [named for Pattapio Silva, a great Brazilian flutist who died tragically
young at the beginning of the last century] made quite an impression.

There’s still a hint of jest in the comparison, but it’s not without reason that Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally are mentioned now and then in opera circles as “the Strauss and Hofmannsthal of the 21st century.”

Incoming general director of Santa Fe Opera, Charles MacKay, has made clear he is “in the tradition -- I will not be an agent for radical change,” at the celebrated New Mexico summer opera festival, MacKay says.

Composer Frederick Carrilho was born in 1971 in the state of Sao Paulo, and has studied guitar and composition, most recently at UNICAMP in Campinas. His music has been heard at the recent biennial festivals of contemporary music in Rio, with the Profusão V – Toccata making a strong impression at the Bienal of 2007. We spoke in Portuguese.

In the long ago, when the best source of music reproduction in the home was a handsome piece of furniture, fitted with hidden audio components, and usually called radio-phonographs, my family had one — from Avery Fisher I believe — that had among its controls a switch labeled ‘presence.’

Glimmerglass Opera is in a watershed year. With the departure of Paul Kellogg, who had considerable success developing that annual festival, General and Artistic Director Michael Macleod has chosen to begin his tenure with a variation on the usual four-opera-season, namely a thematic collection
of pieces based on the “Orpheus” legend. “Don’t look
back” is the marketing catch phrase.

In 1966 Jørn Utzon was forced to quit as architect of the Sydney Opera House before it was complete. Next week, the first new interiors he and his son have designed will be revealed. Louis Jebb reports 07 September 2004...

Opera at the BBC Proms — the world’s biggest Music Festival

The Proms are the world’s biggest classical Music
Festival. For eight weeks, they are a barometer of what’s happening in
music. The BBC broadcasts every Prom worldwide, online and on demand. With
this huge, international audience, the Proms are truly a worldwide
celebration, bringing music lovers together wherever they may be.

The Proms have a formidable reputation for excellence. They’ve been
running for 114 years, almost without a break. Most concerts take place in
the Royal Albert Hall, a monument to the Victorian idea that culture advances
human progress. Nearly every significant composer and performer over the last
century has featured at the Proms, and the atmosphere is unique. To be in
this spectacular building when 7000 people are cheering is an amazing
experience, which the BBC captures remarkably well, supporting the broadcasts
with many extras on its comprehensive website — they even tell you about
the mysterious “Proms sub-culture” ! Many Proms are televised.

The Royal Albert Hall is famous for large scale orchestral music, but
opera, too, is heard to advantage. This year’s big event is Monteverdi’s
L’incoronazione di Poppea. It’s a concert performance of the
Glyndebourne production, performed by the highly regarded baroque
specialists, Emmanuel Haïm and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Glyndebourne is the epitome of “country house opera”, where top quality
productions take place in glorious settings. The BBC Proms makes it possible
for everyone listening to catch some of the magic. This isn’t one to miss
— it’s on July 31st .

Puccini’s Il tabarro follows on August 11th, with Barbara
Frittoli as Giorgetta and Lado Ataneli as Michelo. Jiřì Bělohlávek is at
last being recognised as a superlative Janàcěk conductor, so Osud
on August 21st will be another highlight, particularly as Bělohlávek’s
work is seldom recorded. Even rarer is Rimsky-Korsakov’s Kaschey the
Immortal on September 5th. Vladimir Jurowski conducts. He’s
been a sensation at Glyndebourne and at the South Bank, and this is his kind
of repertoire.

The Proms also bring Messiaen’s St Francis of Assisi straight
from Amsterdam. It’s almost exactly the same cast, with Rodney Gilfrey as
St. Francis, and Ingo Metzmacher conducts the Hague Philharmonic rather than
the Residentie Orkest. This should be intriguing, as this 5 hour blockbuster
is quite an undertaking. Again, unmissable ! James Sohre reviewed the
original Amsterdam performance for Opera Today here.

These operas are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s also Verdi’s
Requiem, Handel’s Belshazzar, Janàcěk’s Glagolitic
Mass (conducted by Boulez), Bach’s St John Passion, and the
massed choir spectacular that is Messiaen’s La Transfiguration de Notre
Seigneur Jésus Christ. Among the singers who will be heard are Karita
Mattila (Strauss Four Last Songs), John Tomlinson (excerpts from
Boris Gudunov), and Angelika Kirchschlager (Schubert). The famous
(or notorious, depending on your point of view) Last Night of the Proms is
always an experience, but Beethoven’s 9th Symphony which always
features before the Last Night. “Alle Menschen werden Brüder, wo dein
sanfter Flügeln wielt”. People all over the world are brought
together, wherever The Proms “wings” can reach. Nothing expresses the
ethos of the BBC Proms spirit better ! And thanks to international
broadcasting and the internet, the dream can come true, for a while.